Ancient blood fueds cast long shadow over hopes for a modern Albania

Vacuum of power since collapse of communism leads to resurgence in traditional Kanun law of an eye for an eye

• • 
    
  • Share10
  • reddit this

• Piotr Smolar
• Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 5 July 2011 13.59 BST
• Article history

Caught up in blood fueds, young Albanians often have to flee abroad. Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian
No one will ever know how it all started, and in a way the original disagreement no longer matters, now that blood has been shed. But there is still Ismet (not his real name). Ismet will soon be 16, which is a problem. Becoming an adult means he must shoulder the burden of the family legacy and answer for it. He looks unconcerned as he approaches the school gate in a village a few kilometres outside Shkodër, the main town in north-west Albania. But before starting his story, he walks down the road, out of sight of the other pupils.
Ismet looks down as he talks. "I'm not sure what to say. I'm being blamed for something I didn't do," he starts. His problems are due to his father. In July 2001 the latter became involved in a dispute with two brothers in a neighbouring village, a confusing tale of land on which his father allegedly encroached..............................................
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/05/albania-kanun-blood-fueds-smolar